Colportage  Boat  in  Hunan,  China 


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Dr.  Frank  A.  Keller 


Dragon  steps  at  entrance  to  main  temple  of  Nan  Yoh.  Pilgrims  are 
rubbing  brass  coins  on  the  dragon.  They  sew  these  coins  on  the  hats  of 
their  children  to  ward  off  demons  and  disease.  Our  colporteurs  are  preach- 
ing Christ  to  them,  and  giving  them  Scriptures. 


TSa®  Balbll®  ®f  Sa®s 

^2a®si1l  flu  ©Mma 

A few  years  ago  Dr.  Frank  A.  Keller,  for  many 
years  a member  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  saw  a trim 
and  sprightly  launch  steam  up  the  Siang  River  and 
anchor  at  Changsha,  the  capital  of  Hunan,  China.  With- 
out delay,  a company  of  foreigners  and  Chinese  came 
ashore  and  began  distributing  in  the  shops  and  houses 
attractive  little  boxes  containing  samples  of  cigarettes. 
Later  in  the  day,  when  the  farmers  and  country  mer- 
chants were  returning  home,  they  stood  on  temporary 
platforms  by  the  way  and  gave  to  each  man  as  he  passed, 
samples  of  their  wares. 

The  doctor  says:  “As  we  saw  their  strenuous  work 
and  heard  of  their  far-reaching  plans,  and  thought  of  the 
thousands  and  thousands  of  towns  and  villages  whose 
millions  of  people  had  never  heard  of  Christ,  or  even 
seen  a copy  of  God’s  Word,  who  would  soon  be  smoking 
cigarettes,  our  hearts  were  filled  with  burning  shame  and 
at  the  same  time  throbbed  with  a great  ambition,  to  be 
equally  comprehensive  in  plan,  wise  in  method,  and 
prompt  in  action  for  the  King.” 

Just  at  that  time  there  came  to  his  hand  a gift  from 
the  Bible  House  of  Los  Angeles  to  be  used  for  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  Scriptures  in  the  Province  of  Hunan.  He 
proposed  to  an  evangelist  and  a Christian  teacher  to 
furnish  a boat,  food  and  books  if  they  would  make  up  a 
party  of  evangelists,  teachers  and  Christian  business  men, 
and  undertake  a tour  of  evangelism  in  the  province.  They 
received  the  proposition  with  sympathetic  enthusiasm, 
and  after  a month  of  blessed  free-will  service,  returned 
with  “a  thrilling  and  inspiring”  report  of  their  experi- 
ment. 


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BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


Dr.  Keller  says:  “We  reported  this  work  to  our 
friends  at  Los  Angeles,  and  told  them,  too,  of  the  launch 
and  the  work  of  the  cigarette  party,  and  how  it  had 
stirred  us.  We  also  called  their  attention  to  the  remark- 
able opportunity  offered  by  the  great  waterways  of 
Hunan  to  reach  nearly  every  part  of  the  province  by  boat. 
The  heads  of  the  Bible  House  of  Los  Angeles  saw  the 
vision,  they  heard  the  cry  of  the  twenty-two  million  peo- 


Rafts  on  River  at  Hunan 


pie  of  Hunan,  and  they  accepted  as  a commission  from 
God  the  task  of  visiting,  so  far  as  possible,  every  one  of 
Hunan’s  4,268,000  homes,  to  tell  the  people  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  leave  with  them  as  a free  gift  copies  of 
God’s  Word,  or  portions  of  it. ’’ 

Dr.  Keller  himself  was  at  once  engaged  by  the  Bible 
House  of  Los  Angeles  to  inaugurate  and  superintend  a 
work  of  evangelization  among  these  millions  of  Hunan- 
ese.  The  doctor  undertook  the  task  and  after  six  years 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


5 


of  service,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Bible  House,  con- 
tinues it  as  a department  of  the  Bible  Institute  of  Los 
Angeles,  which  has  now  assumed  the  responsibility  of  its 
support  and  development. 

THE  SITUATION  IN  HUNAN 

Hunan  is  one  of  the  fourteen  provinces  now  com- 
prised in  the  Chinese  Republic.  It  embraces  about  80,000 
square  miles  of  country  and  contains  about  22,000,000 
inhabitants.  Its  people  have  been  among  the  most  proud, 
arrogant  and  inhospitable,  of  the  conservative  population 
of  China.  It  became  known  as  “the  sealed  province,” 
“the  hostile  province,”  etc.,  but  is  now  freely  open  and 
willing,  if  not  eager,  to  hear  the  message  we  have  to 
bring  them. 

The  opportunity  certainly  is  great, — first,  as  to  the 
field,  second,  as  to  the  conditions.  We  need  to  remind 
ourselves  that  Hunan  alone  has  22,000,000  people,  and 
that  close  by  is  Kiangsi,  connected  with  Hunan  by  mod- 
ern railroad,  and  close  business  and  social  relationships, 
with  a population  of  over  26,000,000;  the  two  provinces 
together  having  a population  equal  to  half  of  the  whole 
United  States.  What  a field! 

The  people  of  Hunan  are  a well  educated  people, 
and  a people  of  exceptional  energy  and  character.  It  is 
a great  delight  and  satisfaction  to  work  among  and  for 
them.  Changsha  was  one  of  the  four  cities  chosen  by  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation  for  carrying  on  its  extensive 
work  along  medical  lines.  This  fact  is  suggestive. 

“I  am  twenty-one  years  old,  and  my  home  is  twenty 
miles  from  Changsha.  I never  heard  of  Jesus  until  a 
few  months  ago,  when  I came  to  the  city  to  take  a posi- 
tion. Yes,  indeed,  now  that  I have  heard  about  Jesus  I 
do  believe  in  Him,  and  I pray  every  morning  and  even- 
ing, and  also  give  thanks  before  my  meals,” — -so  said  a 


6 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


young  Hunanese  in  response  to  an  inquiry,  and  he  is  but 
one  of  millions  in  Hunan, — strong,  handsome,  attractive 
young  fellows  who  have  never  heard  of  Christ  and  live  in 
homes  with  fathers,  mothers  and  sisters  who  have  never 
heard  of  Him.  Dr.  Keller  relates  the  following  similiar 
incident:  “Recently  1 met  a finely  dressed  and  very 
intelligent  young  man  on  the  city  wall,  and  as  we  were 
walking  in  the  same  direction  1 had  a nice  talk  with  him. 
He  lives  right  here  in  Changsha,  but  had  never  been  in 
a chapel  and  had  never  heard  the  Gospel.  Many,  many 
are  truly  afraid  to  go  to  the  chapels,  but  if  the  Gospel 
could  be  explained  to  them  in  their  own  homes,  then 
they  might  be  induced  to  come  to  the  chapels  of  the 
various  missions  to  learn  more.” 


Plowing 


TTiese  people  are  living  in  cities  and  villages,  whole 
counties  of  them,  like  those  described  in  the  following 
extract  from  a letter  recently  received  by  one  of  our 
Hunan  missionaries: 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN.  CHINA 


7 


“May  I bring  to  your  notice  the  populous  county  of 
Kiyang  in  the  Yungchow  prefecture?  There  is  a large 
hsien  city  (a  county  seat)  and  many  large  country  vil- 
lages, without  any  missionary.  I am  responsible  for  that 
whole  area,  together  with  a large  part  of  two  other  coun- 
ties. We  should  all  be  glad  to  give  the  fullest  co-opera- 
tion to  a band  of  your  workers,  and  I much  hope  that 
you  can  arrange  to  come  to  the  aid  of  a district  which  is 
ready  for  the  Gospel,  but  has  as  yet  been  very  little  evan- 
gelised.” 

It  is  to  meet  these  conditions  that  the  Bible  Insti- 
tute of  Los  Angeles  has  taken  up  the  unique  work  thus 
inaugurated  by  Dr.  Keller,  in  the  hope  that,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  they  may  reach  in  some  worthy  degree  the  mil- 
lions of  unevangelized  souls  for  whom  the  Son  of  God 
shed  His  blood,  with  the  precious  Gospel  of  His  salva- 
tion. 

This  involves  the  careful  training  of  a large  force 
of  Chinese  evangelists,  a wide-spread  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  with  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  and  a careful 
conservation  of  results. 

THREE  MAIN  FEATURES  OF  OUR  WORK 

There  are  three  main  features  of  our  work,  as 
follows: 

( 1 ) The  Floating  Bible  Schools. 

(2)  The  Hunan  Autumn  Bible  School  and  Con- 
ference. 

(3)  Intensive  and  Extensive  Evangelism. 

(1)  THE  FLOATING  BIBLE  SCHOOLS 

Our  student  and  working  force  live  in  large  house 
boats.  The  plan  of  having  a number  of  men  living 
together  on  a boat,  with  definite,  daily,  united  Bible 


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BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


study  and  prayer,  makes  provision  for  their  steady,  spirit- 
ual growth.  The  dangers  attending  the  old  methods  of 
colportage,  when  one  man  was  sent  out  alone  for  a 
month  or  two,  separated  from  all  Christian  influences, 
are  thus  largely  eliminated,  and  our  hearts  are  gladdened 
by  frequent  testimonies  from  various  sources  regarding 
the  earnestness,  diligence  and  real  spirituality  of  the  men. 
In  successful  colportage  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  colporteurs  that 
they  be  men  who  are  growing  in  grace  and  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  and  of  His  Word  daily  and  in  whose  hearts 
there  is  an  increasing  passion  for  souls.  We  aim,  there- 
fore, to  make  our  boats  not  merely  colportage  boats,  but 
floating  Bible  Schools. 

THE  BOATS 

Our  boats  are  well  adapted  to  our  purposes,  having 
a kitchen,  several  sleeping  rooms,  and  a good-sized 


Forward  deck  of  one  of  the  boats,  with  family  of  boatman 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


9 


saloon,  which  serves  at  once  for  a dining  room,  study, 
class  room  and  also  as  a chapel  for  small  evenmg  evan- 
gelistic services.  We  now  have  a fleet  of  thj^e  of  these 
boats  in  commission,  which  we  expect  to  increase  to 
twelve  in  the  immediate  future. 

The  boats  are  widely  separated  and  move  from 
point  to  point  as  the  work  demands.  On  each  boat  is  a 
leader  and  his  assistant,  and  ten  students.  If  vacancies 
occur  they  are  replaced  by  young  men  who  give  clear 
evidence  of  conversion  and  of  a call  to  Christian  work, 
on  the  recommendation  of  any  evangelical  mission. 


LIFE  ON  THE  BOATS 

When  on  the  boats,  the  men  rise  promptly  at  5:30, 
and  spend  the  time  till  8:00  o’clock  in  private  devotions 
and  the  preparation  of  their  lessons.  At  eight  they 
assemble  for  the  class  work.  This  continues  till  9:30, 
their  breakfast  hour.  At  10:00  o’clock  they  are  off  for 
a day  of  evangelism,  and  are  expected  back  at  5:00 
o’clock  to  spend  the  evening  in  report  and  prayer 
meetings,  classes,  evangelistic  services  and  study.  In  addi- 
tion to  a brief  season  of  united  prayer  each  morning, 
they  have  also  a weekly  prayer  meeting  and  a second 
evening  for  reports  and  testimonies,  which  has  proved  of 
great  value. 


THE  COURSE  OF  STUDY 

The  full  course  of  study  requires  two  years,  and 

includes  Biblical  Introduction;  Chapter  and  Topical 
Bible  Study;  Bible  Doctrine;  Outlines  of  Church  History; 
Music;  the  Preparation  of  Gospel  Addresses,  with  indi- 
vidual training  in  chapel  and  street  preaching,  and  in  per- 
sonal work. 


10  BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


(2)  THE  HUNAN  AUTUMN  BIBLE  SCHOOL 

South  of  the  center  of  Hunan  is  Nan  Yoh,  one  of  the 
so-called  “sacred  mountains”  of  China.  Many  temples 
and  hundreds  of  priests  are  there,  one  temple  being  at 
the  very  summit  of  the  mountain.  Dr.  Keller  says: 
“Several  years  ago  the  Rev.  G.  G.  Warren,  of  the  Eng- 
lish Wesleyan  Mission,  visited  Nan  Yoh,  and  saw  the 


Hunan  Autumn  Bible  School 

Building  in  which  the  sessions  of  the  school  have  been  held  for  six 
years. 


wonderful  opportunity  there,  a field  ‘ripe  unto  the  har- 
vest.’ There  he  saw  thousands,  aye,  tens  of  thousands  of 
young,  earnest,  worshipping  pilgrims  bowing  down  to 
false  gods.  He  came  back  to  Changsha  and  with  heart 
aflame  told  a story  that  stirred  our  souls,  and  that  some 
of  us  will  never  forget.  One  of  the  results  of  that  visit 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


I I 


and  of  that  address  is  the  Hunan  Autumn  Bible  School. 
Mr.  Warren  has  been  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  sup- 
porters of  the  School  and  one  of  the  most  acceptable 
teachers  during  its  entire  history.  Each  autumn  since  that 
address  was  given,  we  have  had  the  privilege  of  inviting 
the  Chinese  pastors  and  evangelists  of  Hunan  to  come  to 
Nan  Yoh  as  our  guests,  and  join  us  in  three  weeks  of 
Bible  study,  conference  and  prayer,  and  in  personal  work 
among  the  pilgrims.  We  have  fitted  up  a large  house 
in  which  we  can  entertain  about  seventy  men,  and  we 
secure  lodgings  in  neighboring  houses  for  any  others  who 
come,  all  dining  together  at  the  main  building.  Usually 
about  eighty  men  from  ten  or  twelve  different  missions 


Hunan  Autumn  Bible  School,  Teachers  and  Students,  1913 

have  accepted  our  invitation  and  have  come  to  the  moun- 
tain to  enjoy  the  bracing  air,  the  good  food,  the  happy 
fellowship  and  the  blessed  work. 


12 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


These  men  have  been  converted,  then  trained  and 
finally  set  at  work  in  one  center  where  they  have  only 
met  a half  dozen  missionaries,  often  less,  and  no  Chinese 
Christians  or  workers  outside  of  their  own  city.  Think 
what  it  must  mean  to  them  to  come  to  a place  where  they 
are  free  from  all  care,  no  family  or  work  to  look  after, 
and  where  they  can  meet,  confer  and  pray  with  Chinese 
workers  from  all  over  the  province,  and  be  led  in  the 
study  of  God’s  Word  by  missionaries  of  various  churches, 
and  join  in  three  weeks  of  intense,  fruitful,  heart  to  heart 
labor  among  thousands  of  earnest,  religiously  inclined 
young  men. 

In  the  early  fall  our  boat  companies  adjourn  for  this 
month  of  Bible  study,  conference  and  special  work 
among  the  pilgrims  to  the  famous  shrines. 


THE  DAILY  PROGRAM  OF  THE  AUTUMN 
BIBLE  SCHOOL 

The  program  of  work  is  as  follows: 

Forenoon:  Three  lecture  and  quiz  periods,  45 
minutes  each. 

Afternoon:  Practical  work  and  Scripture  distribu- 

tion among  the  pilgrims. 

Evening:  Evangelistic  services,  writing  up  lecture 

notes  and  study. 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA  13 

HOW  WE  REACH  THE  PILGRIMS  TO  THE 
“SACRED  MOUNTAIN’’ 

“To  systematize  the  work  we  divide  the  men  into 
twelve  groups,  and  assign  certain  groups  to  work  on 


The  Pilgrims’  Ten  Mile  Flight 

The  road  up  the  mountain  is  ten  miles  long,  and  about  half  of  it  con- 
sists of  steps. 


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BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


each  of  the  four  main  roads  leading  into  the  temple  vil- 
lage at  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  On  these  roads,  about 
a half  mile  from  the  village,  we  have  booths  with  tables, 
stools  and  supplies  of  the  indispensable  tea.  We  never 
approach  the  pilgrims  when  they  are  going  toward  the 
mountain,  but  after  they  have  performed  their  vows  and 
are  returning  home,  we  invite  them  into  the  booths  and 
offer  them  a cup  of  tea.  Then,  as  they  sip  the  tea,  we 
tell  them  as  much  as  possible  of  the  Gospel  and  present 
each  one  with  either  a New  Testament  or  a copy  of  one 
of  our  other  books,  together  with  one  or  two  tracts.  If 
the  pilgrims  are  in  too  great  a hurry  to  tarry,  one  of  our 
party  walks  along  with  them  preaching  the  gospel  by  the 
way,  and  then  after  giving  a Testament  or  book  to  each 
pilgrim  in  the  group,  returns  to  the  booth  to  join  another 
party.  The  colporteurs  learned  that  many  pilgrims 
started  for  their  homes  very  early  in  the  morning,  and  so 
they  began  rising  at  two  and  three  o’clock  to  go  out  and 
work  until  breakfast  time  among  these  faithful  but 
deluded  worshippers.  They  keep  up  this  strenuous 
service  for  the  entire  month.  In  1912,  during  the  four 
weeks  on  the  mountain,  there  were  presented  to  the  pil- 
grims, after  personal  conversations  with  them,  4,150 
New  Testaments;  33,000  copies  of  the  ‘Synopsis  of  the 
Gospel’;  and  6,798  smaller  collections  of  Scripture  pas- 
sages. Gospel  posters  were  pasted  up  for  miles  along  the 
roads  leading  to  the  temples.  One  incident  from  a recent 
report  will  demonstrate  the  far-reaching  influence  of  this 
department  of  our  work.  One  of  our  leaders,  Mr.  Cheng, 
writes:  ‘Last  year  the  five  sons  of  a prominent  resident 
of  Tui-Kuang-Chow,  a man  76  years  of  age,  went  to  the 
Sacred  Mountain  to  worship  and  each  received  a copy  of 
the  New  Testament.  On  their  return,  the  father  devoted 
most  of  his  time  to  reading  these  new  books.  Very  soon 
he  became  convinced  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel  and  then 
embraced  every  opportunity  to  talk  to  his  neighbors 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN.  CHINA 


15 


about  it,  until  they  said  he  had  become  crazy.  He  took 
one  of  the  Testaments  and  sent  it  to  a very  dear  friend 
in  Kweiyang,  the  capital  of  the  province  of  Kweichow. 


Mr,  Hsiao  telling  pilgrim  (on  his  22nd  annual  pilgrimage)  how  the 
camera  worked. 


16 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


When  we  reached  the  village,  and  the  old  man  learned 
that  we  were  preachers  of  the  gospel,  he  welcomed  us 
to  his  home  as  though  we  were  near  of  kin.  He  asked 
many  questions  about  the  gospel,  to  which  we  replied  by 
showing  his  passages  of  Scripture  bearing  on  the  points 
raised.  At  the  close  of  our  conversation  the  old  man 
said:  “If  only  1 were  younger  I would  like  to  go  out 
with  you  and  proclaim  this  wonderful  story  of  the  saving 
grace  of  the  Lord.  As  it  is,  I shall  do  my  best  to  lead  my 
family  and  my  neighbors  to  repent  and  believe.” 

THE  PRINTED  PAGE  IN  OUR  EVANGELISM 

(1)  Our  Posters:  We  have  large  lithographed 
posters,  30x40  inches,  written  by  expert  Chinese  pen- 
men, and  printed  in  brilliant  colors  on  strong  paper,  like 
the  reduced  copy  on  page  1 7.  This  poster  reads,  as 
follows: 

“BELIEVERS  OBTAIN  SALVATION’’ 

“God  so  loved  the  world,  that  He  gave  His  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him,  should 
not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life,”  John  3:16. 

The  smaller  characters  at  the  left  read:  “These 
words  have  been  taken  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the 
Christian  religion.  All  who  read  are  invited  to  visit  a 
gospel  hall  and  investigate.  If  you  will  purchase  a copy 
of  the  complete  New  Testament  and  read  it,  you  will  be 
able  to  understand  more  perfectly  this  important  teach- 
ing.” 

Other  titles  and  texts  are:  “There  is  Hope,”  1 Pet. 
2:24;  “The  Free  Gift  of  Eternal  Life,”  Rom.  6:23,  etc. 
Altogether  we  have  published  eighteen  different  texts, 
and  to  each  one  there  is  added  the  statement  and  invita- 
tion as  above. 


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AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


19 


(2)  Our  Books:  We  have  also  several  specially 
prepared  books  of  Scripture  passages,  so  combined  as  to 
form  a connected  narrative  and  give  a simple  statement 
of  the  way  of  salvation.  Each  has  a brief  introduction 
stating  that  the  extracts  are  from  the  Holy  Scriptures  of 
the  Christian  religion.  There  is  also  a cordial  invitation 
to  the  reader  to  visit  a Gospel  hall  when  he  goes  to  the 
city,  to  talk  with  the  attending  evangelist  about  the  Gos- 
pel, and  to  purchase  a New  Testament  and  study  it  dili- 
gently to  get  more  light  upon  the  truth. 

One  of  these  books,  the  ‘*Fu-Yin-Tso-Yao”  or 
“Synopsis  of  the  Gospel”  is  a brief  connected  statement 
of  the  life  of  Christ,  wholly  in  words  of  Scripture,  and 
makes  very  plain  God’s  plan  of  salvation.  Another  book, 
the  “Sheng-King-Tseh-Luh”  or  “Selected  Portions  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures”  is  the  fruit  of  three  years  of  prayerful 
labor  on  the  part  of  two  well  known  Christian  workers. 
The  Bible  House  of  Los  Angeles  has  printed  over 
800,000  copies  in  Spanish,  under  the  title  “Porciones 
Escogidas  de  la  Palabra  de  Decs”  and  has  circulated 
them  in  24  Spanish-speaking  countries. 

The  portions  of  Scripture  are  so  selected  and  com- 
bined that  one  passage  of  Scripture  is  used  to  illustrate, 
explain  or  emphasize  another,  no  other  note  or  comment 
being  added.  For  example:  The  book  begins  with  “In 
the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  The  same  was  in  the 
beginning  with  God.  All  things  were  made  through  Him, 
and  without  Him  was  not  anything  made  that  was  made.” 
John  1 :l-3,  14.  Then  follows  the  story  of  the  creation 
as  given  in  Genesis  1 :l-5,  24-31,  closing  with  “(Jesus) 
Who  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first  born  of 
every  creature;  for  by  him  were  all  things  created,  that 
are  in  heaven  and  that  are  in  earth,  visible  and  invisble, 
whether  they  be  thrones  or  dominions,  or  principalities 
or  powers;  all  things  were  created  by  him,  and  for  him; 


20 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


and  He  is  before  all  thiners,  and  by  him  all  things  consist. 
Col.  1:15,  16. 

Then  comes  a description  of  Adam  in  Eden,  fol- 
lowed by  the  first  Psalm  and  the  story  of  the  fall.  God’s 
judgment  of  sin  and  His  plan  of  mercy  for  the  sinner,  are 
shown  by  passages  from  Old  and  New  Testaments.  The 
story  of  the  brazen  serpent  is  preceded  by  Rom.  6:23 
“The  wages  of  sin  is  death,  but  the  free  gift  of  God  is 
eternal  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  our  Lord”  and  is  followed  by 
John  3:14,  15,  “And  as  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in 
the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted 
up ; that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  may  have  eternal 
Life.  ” And  so  right  on  through  the  book  of  200  pages, 
by  “comparing  Scripture  with  Scripture  ” God’s  revela- 
tion is  set  forth  and  explained  in  its  own  words. 


A Country  Theater 

OUR  METHODS  OF  WORKING 
Some  years  ago  at  a conference  of  Hunan  mission- 
aries, a plan  was  proposed  for  dividing  up  the  seventy- 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


1 


three  counties  of  this  province  among  the  missions  work- 
ing within  its  borders.  The  plan  was  generally  approved, 
and  while  not  formally  adopted  in  detail,  the  several  mis- 
sions have  practically  accepted  the  responsibility  for  the 
evangelization  of  the  counties  in  which  their  work  is 
located,  and  adjacent  counties  not  occupied  by  other  mis- 
sions. In  most  cases  the  missions  are  responsible  for 
much  larger  districts  than  they  can  possibly  reach  in  many 
years,  therefore  they  gladly  welcome  our  colporteurs  to 
help  them  in  a widespread  proclamation  of  the  message 
of  life.  In  this  way,  the  missionaries  themselves  are  more 
free  for  the  very  important  work  of  caring  for  young  con- 
verts and  newly  formed  churches.  This  definite  co- 
operation with  the  regularly  established  missions  pro- 
vides for  the  conservation  of  results,  and  saves  the  work 
from  being  in  any  sense  a mere  passing  effort. 

THE  DAILY  PROGRAM 

Our  daily  program  of  evangelism  comprises  house 
to  house  visitation,  street  preaching,  guest  room  work  on 
the  boat  and  evening  evangelistic  services.  We  go  into 
a county  only  on  the  invitation  of  the  mission  responsible 
for  that  county,  and  remain  there,  moving  our  boat 
from  point  to  point,  until  we  have  visited  practically 
every  home.  Daily  (except  Sunday)  at  10:00  a.  m.  ten 
men  from  each  boat  go  out  two  by  two  to  visit  people  in 
their  homes.  If  possible  a trained  worker  and  a first  year 
student  go  together,  the  latter  preferably  from  the  dis- 
trict being  worked.  With  this  in  mind  when  we  are 
invited  to  work  in  a county,  we  ask  the  missionary  in 
charge  if  he  has  four  or  six  promising  young  Christians 
who  would  like  to  take  our  course  of  training  in  Bible 
study  and  methods  of  work.  If  this  arrangement  is  made 
we  have  the  benefit  of  the  local  dialect  of  these  men  dur- 
ing our  period  of  work  in  their  county,  a thing  of  very 


22 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


great  advantage  in  house  to  house  visitation,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  campaign  we  can  give  back  to  the  mission  a 
number  of  trained  men  who  will  be  of  permanent  value 
to  the  local  work. 


Colporteurs  about  to  leave  boat  for  their  day’s  work.  Rev.  C.  S. 
Champness,  of  the  English  Wesleyan  Mission,  standing  with  them. 


On  entering  a home,  the  men  tell  the  Gospel  story 
briefly,  but  as  simply  and  clearly  as  possible,  and  with  a 
definite  appeal  for  decision.  They  are  often  able  to  have 
prayer  in  the  home,  and  before  leaving  they  present  the 
people  with  one  of  our  specially  prepared  books  of  top 
ically  arranged  portions  of  Scripture,  or  with  a Gospel, 
or  in  some  cases  even  with  a New  Testament.  One  or 
two  tracts  are  usually  given  also.  We  find  the  “Illus- 
trated Portionettes”  and  other  publications  of  the  “Dis- 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


23 


tribution  Fund”  of  great  value  in  this  work.  They  can 
be  obtained  free  of  all  expense  by  any  missionary  in 
China  on  application  to  the  Rev.  W.  E.  Blackstone,  1 8 
Peking  Road,  Shanghai. 

An  incident  in  a late  report  shows  the  tactfulness 
and  persistency  of  the  men  in  their  work.  As  they 
approached  one  home  the  people  quickly  closed  and 
barred  the  doors  and  windows.  However,  these  win- 
dows, as  is  frequently  the  case  in  China,  consisted  of  a 
lattice  work  over  which  was  pasted  tissue  paper  through 
which  the  voice  could  be  heard  as  well  as  if  the  windows 
were  wide  open,  so  in  spite  of  closed  windows  and  the 
ridicule  of  some  children,  the  two  colporteurs  stood  out- 
side and  gave  their  message  of  love  and  joy  and  peace. 
Soon  the  doors  were  opened  and  they  were  invited  in. 
The  people  explained  their  action  by  telling  of  some 
rough  men  who  had  passed  that  way  recently  and  had 
both  robbed  them  and  demanded  supplies  of  food. 
“But”  said  they  “men  with  a message  like  yours,  are 
welcome.” 

The  people  visited  during  the  day  are  invited  to 
attend  the  evening  evangelistic  service  and  the  morning 
Bible  study;  many  accept  these  invitations.  Others  fol- 
low the  colporteurs  from  house  to  house  and  so  hear  the 
message  over  and  over  again.  Still  others  begin  at  once 
to  study  the  books  and  later  go  down  to  the  boat  to  talk 
with  the  leader  about  the  new  and  wonderful  things  they 
have  read.  The  leader  spends  the  greater  part  of  the 
day  on  the  boat,  glad  to  receive  and  help  all  who  come. 
Every  book  that  we  give  contains  an  invitation  to  go  to 
the  nearest  chapel  to  learn  more  of  the  Gospel  and  to 
purchase  copies  of  the  Scriptures.  We  also  put  in  each 
book  a little  printed  slip  giving  the  exact  location  of  any 
chapels  that  may  be  in  the  county  where  we  are  working. 

Two  men  in  each  party  devote  their  time  to  pasting 
up  our  large  lithographed  Gospel  posters,  and  in  preach- 


24 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


ing  to  the  people  who  gather  to  read  them.  The  work 
in  each  section  of  a county  usually  closes  with  one  or  two 
general  evangelistic  services  held  in  some  central  place 
which  can  be  reached  by  most  of  the  people  of  that  sec- 
tion. 

It  is  sometimes  necessary  for  a party  to  leave  their 
boat  for  a few  weeks,  or  even  months,  and  take  up  resi- 
dence in  a rented  house,  or  in  an  inn  if  no  house  can  be 
secured,  in  order  to  reach  villages  far  inland.  The 
work  is  conducted  in  the  same  way  as  from  the  boats, 
and  when  all  the  villages  about  one  center  have  been 
reached,  the  party  moves  on  to  another  center.  It  is 
therefore  evident  that  this  plan  of  work  is  perfectly  prac- 
ticable even  in  provinces  that  do  not  have  the  splendid 
water-ways  with  which  Hunan  is  so  well  supplied. 

SUPERVISION 

The  method  of  supervision  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant features  of  the  work.  The  missionary  responsible 
for  the  district  is  cordially  invited  to  co-operate  with  the 
men,  and  some  missionaries  have  spent  several  weeks 
with  the  party, — a fellowship  that  has  been  inspiring  both 
to  the  men  and  to  the  missionaries.  The  superintendent 
keeps  in  touch  with  the  parties  by  personal  visits,  semi- 
monthly reports  (see  next  page)  and  monthly  diaries. 
Copies  of  the  reports  are  sent  both  to  the  missionary  of  the 
county  and  to  the  superintendent;  they  give  in  tabulated 
form  a full  record  of  each  day’s  work,  the  number  of 
homes  visited,  and  the  titles  and  number  of  books  dis- 
tributed. Cases  of  special  interest  are  described  in 
detail.  Although  we  keep  thus  closely  in  touch  with  the 
work,  the  actual  conduct  of  each  party  is  entrusted  abso- 
lutely to  its  trained  Chinese  leader,  and  we  cannot  empha- 
size too  strongly  our  convictions  as  to  the  value  of  this 
detail  of  the  plan.  We  seek  to  make  the  men  feel  they 
are  serving  the  Lord  Christ  and  Him  only.  This  develops 


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26 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


a spirit  of  initiative  and  enthusiasm,  and  encourages  a 
feeling  of  happy  freedom  that  is  most  helpful. 

During  the  past  three  years  the  men  of  our  two  ^ 
parties  have  visited  over  200,000  homes  in  most  of 
which  Scriptures  and  tracts  have  been  placed.  Gospel 
posters  have  been  pasted  up  both  inside  and  outside  of 
inns,  barber  shops  and  other  public  buildings.  Wherever 
our  men  have  been,  there  is  the  Gospel  invitation  in  large 
attractive  characters  in  every  available  conspicuous  place 
for  other  travellers  to  read. 


Mr.  M.  K.  Hsiao  and  Family 

PRACTICAL  RESULTS 

As  a result  of  this  work,  mostly  in  new  fields,  many 
have  given  up  idolatry  and  have  accepted  Christ  as  their 
Saviour.  Bible  classes  have  been  formed  and  new 
churches  have  been  established,  always  by  the  mission 

I '^'Uy-O 

•'k 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


27 


of  the  county,  never  by  us.  Hundreds  of  thousands  who 
had  never  heard  the  Gospel  before  our  men  went  to  them 
have  had  their  misconceptions  cleared  away,  their  preju- 
dices broken  down,  and  many  of  them  are  truly  inter- 
ested in  the  Gospel  and  are  studying  it. 

The  following  extracts  from  recent  letters  show  how 
the  missionaries  welcome  our  workers,  and  how  truly 
God  is  with  them  and  is  blessing  their  service.  One  mis- 
sionary wrote: — “When  we  heard  that  Mr.  Cheng  and 
his  party  were  on  the  way  to  work  in  our  district  we 
started  with  specially  earnest  intercession  for  increased 
blessing  upon  the  testimony  and  labor  of  each  Chinese 
brother  in  connection  with  the  Los  Angeles  work.  When 
the  brethren  arrived  at  Paoking  1 received  them  with 
great  joy.  From  the  first  day  when  the  brethren  started 
their  blessed  work  we  had  crowds  of  listeners  to  the  Gos- 
pel daily.  There  are  many  souls  in  the  city  and  in  the 
country  who  are  deeply  influenced  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
through  the  splendid  work  of  our  Chinese  brethren.  I 
think  that  Mr.  Cheng  is  the  right  man  to  lead  this  evan- 
gelistic work  in  Hunan,  and  most  of  the  other  brethren 
are  well  prepared  for  the  work.”  Another  missionary 
wrote -“There  have  been  baptized  about  a dozen  per- 
sons during  the  past  year  whose  conversions  can  be  traced 
directly  to  the  work  of  your  colporteurs  . . . We 

now  have  seven  places  where  your  men  have  gathered 
believers.”  An  evangelist  of  one  of  the  leading  missions 
in  Hunan  wrote  to  Mr.  Hsiao: — “Of  fourteen  men 
recently  baptized  here,  nine  were  the  direct  result  of  the 
colportage  work;  again  God’s  words  have  been  fulfilled: 
‘Others  have  labored,  and  ye  are  entered  into  their 
labor.’ 

Dr.  Keller  writes  as  follows: 

“God  continues  to  bless  richly,  and  our  hearts  are 
continually  stirred  to  praise.  I must  give  you  very  briefly 
a couple  of  recent  incidents: — Mr.  Chao,  93  years  of 


28 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


age,  but  still  wonderfully  vigorous,  an  educated  man, 
and  even  now  a great  reader,  has  four  sons,  several 
grandsons,  and  about  twenty  great-grandsons.  Our 
colporteurs  visited  Mr.  Chao,  had  a fine  talk  with  him, 
gave  him  a copy  of  the  Scriptures,  and  as  a result  of 
God’s  blessing  on  their  work,  not  only  Mr.  Chao,  but 
also  his  eldest  son,  73  years,  and  his  third  son,  63  years 
of  age  have  all  accepted  Christ  as  their  Saviour.  What 
a wonderful  privilege  to  have  been  permitted  to  take  the 
message  of  salvation  to  these  aged  men  so  evidently  pre- 
pared to  receive  it.  , 

A very  wild  young  man  of  about  twenty  years  had 
been  very  unkind  to  his  mother;  through  our  colporteurs 
he  was  led  to  faith  in  Christ  and  in  a public  meeting  con- 
fessed to  his  mother  his  ill  treatment  of  her,  asked  her 
forgiveness  and  promised  in  the  future  to  be  a dutiful 
son. 

A Chinese  evangelist  of  one  of  the  missions  in 
whose  territory  we  were  at  work  testified  that  he  had 
been  preaching  the  Gospel  for  some  years,  but  had  never 
realized  the  power  of  prayer.  His  association  with  our 
colporteurs  had  led  him  to  see  the  meaning  and  power  of 
prayer,  and  he  had  determined  to  make  prayer  a prom- 
inent feature  of  his  life  and  work  in  the  future.  I do 
thank  God  that  He  is  graciously  using  our  workers  both 
to  bring  the  heathen  to  a saving  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus,  and  to  lead  Christians  and  Christian  workers  into 
deeper,  truer  spiritual  lives. 

A recent  letter  from  Mr.  Cheng  is  full  of  encourage- 
ment, he  writes: — ‘Our  work  is  truly  one  of  great  joy; 
large  numbers  of  people  are  being  influenced  by  the 
Gospel,  and  not  a few  are  being  saved.  In  spite  of  con 
tinned  wind  and  rain  many  come  every  evening  to  our 
special  class  for  inquirers,  all  classes  of  people  are  com- 
ing,— literati,  merchants,  mechanics  and  farmers.  Satan 
is  very  active  also;  reports  were  circulated  that  each  of 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


29 


our  books  has  three  hairs  between  the  pages,  and  that 
when  the  books  are  opened  the  hairs  fly  up  into  the  nos- 
trils of  the  readers  and  poison  them.  Over  thirty  people 
were  said  to  have  died  from  the  effects  of  this  poison  in 
our  previous  field  of  labor.  The  result  was  that  the  peo- 
ple feared  to  let  us  come  into  their  houses,  and  those 
who  have  already  received  books  were  afraid  to  read 
them.  They  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  the  books, 
they  feared  to  keep  them  in  their  homes,  and  it  was  said 
that  the  books  would  not  burn,  that  if  they  threw  them 
into  the  fire  they  would  come  out  unharmed,  so  they 
decided  to  dig  very  deep  holes  and  bury  them. 

In  fear  and  anger  the  people  slammed  the  doors  in 
the  faces  of  our  colporteurs,  cursed  them  with  loud  voices, 
and  sent  their  children  out  to  follow  them  and  cry  out 
“Beat  them,  beat  them.” 

In  deep  distress  our  men  gave  themselves  to  prayer 
and  fasting,  seeking  guidance  and  help  from  God  in  this 
difficult  situation.  God  heard  their  prayers  and  seemed 
to  open  the  very  windows  of  heaven  and  pour  out  bless- 
ing upon  them.  . . . This  blessing  from  God  is  not 

alone  in  response  to  our  prayer,  for  many  others  have 
been  praying  for  us.  Mr.  Lo  (an  evangelist  friend) 
wrote  us  that  he  and  some  friends  were  praying  for  us, 
with  fasting,  every  Sunday  morning,  seeking  God’s  bless- 
ing on  our  work.’ 

Dear  friends,  as  you  realize  more  of  what  our  earn- 
est workers  have  to  endure  from  their  own  countrymen, 
you  too  can  help  mightily  by  earnest  pleading  with  God 
on  their  behalf.  Will  you  do  it? 

In  response  to  the  prayer  and  work,  God  has  moved 
upon  many  in  that  dark  district  to  turn  from  their  idols 
to  the  living  God.  Let  me  give  you  two  or  three 
instances:  The  father  and  mother  of  an  influential  fam- 
ily named  Liu  had  both  become  convinced  of  the  truth 
of  the  Gospel  and  were  planning  to  destroy  their  idols. 


30 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


They  had  finely  carved  idols  and  shrines,  and  their 
ancestral  tablets  were  covered  with  gold.  One  evening 
their  son  placed  some  paper  money  on  the  idol’s  shrine 
and  said  to  the  idol: — ‘If  you  have  a soul  give  me  a 
token  tonight  in  a dream,  for  my  parents  believe  in  Jesus, 
and  if  you  do  not  give  me  a token  tonight  our  whole 
family  will  embrace  the  Christian  religion  and  you  will 
be  destroyed.’  Of  course  no  token  came,  and  the  fol- 
lowing morning  the  idols,  shrines  and  all  the  things  con- 
nected with  idol  worship  were  gathered  together  and 
burned,  the  entire  family  consenting  to,  and  taking  part 
in  the  ceremony.  Moreover,  as  a family  they  publicly 
accepted  Christ  as  their  Saviour  and  Lord. 

A man  named  Hsieh  was  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
the  Gospel  on  the  very  first  hearing,  and  at  once  defi- 
nitely accepted  of  Christ  as  his  Saviour.  His  mother  and 
wife  both  opposed  him  bitterly.  His  wife  became  seriously 
ill  and  his  mother  urged  him  to  go  out  and  purchase  some 
pig’s  blood  and  offer  it  to  the  idols  and  pray  for  his  wife’s 
recovery.  This  he  firmly  refused  to  do,  and  you  can  see 
what  a test  of  faith  he  was  having.  He  went  to  our  col- 
porteurs and  asked  them  to  come  to  his  house  and  pray 
for  his  wife,  this  they  gladly  did,  and  God  graciously 
granted  instant  recovery.  All  opposition  was  broken 
down,  and  this  entire  family  also  turned  to  the  Lord. 

Another  man  named  Liu  had  been  frightened  by 
the  evil  reports  and  when  the  colporteurs  came  to  his 
house  he  would  not  receive  them.  A few  days  later  he 
saw  two  of  the  men  passing  his  home  and  invited  them 
to  come  in.  The  Holy  Spirit  must  have  been  working  in 
his  heart,  for  he  was  soon  led  to  see  the  truth  of  the  Gos- 
pel message,  and  gladly  accepted  Jesus  Christ  as  his  per- 
sonal Saviour. 

On  the  last  evening  of  their  work  in  this  section  they 
had  a wonderful  meeting;  a large  crowd  gathered,  and  in 
the  presence  of  their  fellow  villagers  about  twenty  per- 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN.  CHINA 


31 


sons  testified  to  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  I must  give 
you  one  of  these  testimonies:— A Mr.  Li  (pronounce 
Lee)  said:- — -‘My  father  has  been  ill  for  a long  time  and 
for  seven  successive  years  I have  made  pilgrimages  to 
Nan  Yoh  to  pray  to  the  idols  on  his  behalf,  but  all  to  no 
avail.  1 only  knew  about  the  idols,  I did  not  know  about 
the  only  true  God.  A few  days  ago  the  colporteurs  gave 
a book  to  my  uncle;  he  read  it  and  believed.  Then  he 
came  to  my  father,  read  the  book  to  him,  told  him  how 
Jesus  raised  the  dead,  and  urged  my  father  to  believe  in 
God  and  in  Jesus  Christ.  My  father  accepted  his  testi- 
mony and  also  believed.  Fortunately  the  colporteurs 
then  came  to  our  house,  they  prayed  for  my  father  and 
he  was  healed.  Now  both  my  uncle  and  my  father  with 
their  families  have  believed  the  Gospel  and  have  accepted 
of  Jesus.’  The  father  himself  was  at  this  meeting,  and 
gave  a personal  testimony  of  his  faith.  How  true  the 
Word:^ — ‘Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  thou  shalt 
be  saved,  and  thy  house.’  ” 

We  now  have  three  parties  at  work,  a total  of  thirty- 
nine  men.  In  addition  to  our  present  leaders  we  have 
three  fine  men  in  training  for  leadership.  This  method 
of  training  and  work  could  be  employed  to  great  advan- 
tage by  many  missions  in  China,  even  if  the  parties  had 
to  be  smaller  in  some  cases.  Experience  convinces  us 
that  if  this  method  were  widely  adopted  the  result  would 
be  the  speedy  evangelization  of  this  land.  We  believe 
that  it  would  make  possible  ‘The  evangelization  of 
China  in  this  generation.’  Already  the  plan  is  being 
tried,  and  one  denominational  Bible  school  in  Hunan  is 
sending  out  a band  of  students  for  part  of  the  year  with 
most  gratifying  results.  The  Rev.  F.  C.  H.  Dreyer  of 
the  Shansi  Bible  Institute  is  planning  to  make  a few 
weeks  of  work  on  these  lines  ‘an  integral  part  of  the  two 
years’  course.’ 


The  Rev.  G.  G.  Warren  and  a party  of  colporteurs  at  Nan  Yoh 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


33 


A striking  illustration  of  the  guidance  and  blessing 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  this  work,  and  also  of  the  practical 
advantages  of  the  work,  occurred  in  connection  with  the 
recent  campaign  in  the  Tung  Shan  district.  The  evan- 
gelist in  charge  had  for  a long  time  desired  to  have  one 
of  our  parties  come  into  his  district,  a territory  so  large 
that  he  could  only  touch  the  margin  of  it.  Last  autumn 
at  Nan  Yoh,  when  told  that  it  did  not  seem  possible  to 
send  a party  to  him  in  the  near  future,  he  went  up  on  the 
mountain  side,  threw  himself  upon  the  ground  and  there 
with  sobs  and  tears  he  laid  the  matter  before  God,  earn- 
estly beseeching  Him  to  send  one  of  the  parties  into  his 
field.  God  heard  and  answered,  a party  went,  and  a 
remarkable  work  followed.  One  case  in  that  district 
forcefully  demonstrates  the  great  value  of  the  house  to 
house  visitation.  There  was  a Mr.  Lo,  quite  a prominent 
and  influential  man,  whom  no  one  had  been  able  to 
induce  to  even  enter  the  mission  chapel.  One  day  two 
of  our  men  called  at  his  home;  Mr.  Lo  was  away  but  his 
younger  brother  was  at  home  and  the  men  sat  down  and 
began  to  explain  the  Gospel  to  him.  When  Mr.  Lo 
returned  from  town  and  found  the  colporteurs  in  his 
house  he  became  very  angry  and  abusive.  The  men  were 
kept  from  losing  their  temper  and  in  a most  courteous 
way  asked  Mr.  Lo  to  kindly  tell  them  why  he  so  strongly 
objected  to  the  Gospel.  Mr.  Lo  readily  complied;  one 
by  one  his  objections  were  shown  to  be  based  on  abso- 
lutely false  rumors,  and  the  great  truths  of  the  Gospel 
were  stated  to  him.  Suddenly  he  exclaimed: — -“Why! 
if  these  things  that  you  are  telling  me  are  true,  I want  to 
know  more  about  this  Gospel.”  He  asked  for  a Testa- 
ment and  began  to  study  it;  he  also  began  to  attend  the 
evangelistic  services,  and  became  one  of  the  most  joy- 
ous and  enthusiastic  Christians.  In  this  same  village  of 
Tung  Shan  there  is  a large  weaving  establishment.  In 
1915  the  head  of  the  family  that  owns  it  went  to  Nan 


34 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


Yoh  as  a pilgrim,  and  is  now  an  earnest  Christian, 
though  not  as  a direct  result  of  our  work;  but  his 
younger  brother,  also  an  earnest  Christian,  after  seeing 
the  work  of  our  colporteurs,  and  attending  their  Bible 
classes  while  they  were  working  in  that  district,  gave  up 
his  business  and  joined  one  of  our  parties  that  he  might 
study  and  prepare  himself  for  a life  of  Christian  service. 


Colporteurs  at  Nan  Yoh 


After  his  return  from  the  conference  the  Rev.  Li 
Yoh-Han  wrote: — “My  heart  was  filled  with  unspeak- 
able joy  as  1 saw  the  work  being  done  there. 

1 have  worked  in  several  provinces,  but  nowhere  have  I 
seen  such  conditions  and  such  earnestness  as  at  Nan 
Yoh.  ” One  missionary  who  visited  us,  after  seeing  the 
opportunity  and  the  work,  said:- — “Would  it  not  be  pos- 
sible to  provide  quarters  for  a number  of  missionaries? 


MR.  M.  K.  HSIAO, 

Assistant  Superintendent  of  the  Hunan  Colportage  Work 


H.  P.  TIEN, 
Leader  of  Party  No. 


H.  T.  CHENG, 
Leader  of  Party  No.  1 


36 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


I would  like  to  see  the  rule  adopted  in  our  mission  that 
every  new  missionary  should  attend  one  session  of  the 
Hunan  Autumn  Bible  School  before  beginning  his  active 
missionary  service.” 

During  the  1916  conference  personal  conversations 
were  held  with  about  40,000  pilgrims,  39,600  books  of 
Scripture  portions  and  20,000  Gospel  tracts  were  given 
them  to  carry  back  to  their  homes. 


Kneeling  Pilgrims  at  Nan  Yoli 


In  another  letter  Dr.  Keller  says: 

“The  case  of  a Mr.  Liu,  a former  priest,  affords  a 
beautiful  example  of  how  God  blesses  and  uses  these 
books.  His  own  precious  Word,  given  out  in  prayer  and 
faith.  Mr.  Liu  was  in  a home  in  the  city  of  Liling  per- 
forming the  idolatrous  ceremonies  connected  with  his 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


37 


Priest  and  shrine  on  road  half  way  up  the  mountain  Nan  Yoh 

priestly  office,  when  he  saw  an  attractive  looking  book 
lying  on  the  idol’s  shrine.  He  asked  what  it  was  and  his 
host  replied  that  it  had  been  given  to  him  at  Nan  Yoh 
where  he  had  gone  on  a pilgrimage  the  previous  year. 


38 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


The  priest  asked  the  privilege  of  taking  it  with  him  to 
read.  The  book  was  our  ‘Synopsis  of  the  Gospel,’  a 
brief  story  of  the  life  of  Christ  wholly  in  the  language  of 
Scripture.  Mr.  Liu  took  it,  read  it,  and  without  any 
human  help  was  led  by  it  to  give  up  his  priesthood  and 
idolatry  and  accept  Jesus  Christ  as  his  Saviour  and  Lord. 
He  noticed  the  invitation  in  the  book  to  attend  the  Gos- 
pel chapel  and  though  he  is  64  years  of  age,  and  lives  ten 


The  Rev.  G.  G.  Warren  and  Colporteurs  on  bridge  on  one  of  the  four 
main  roads  by  which  pilgrims  come  to  Nan  Yoh. 


miles  from  Liling,  every  Sunday  when  the  weather  is  not 
too  severe  he  walks  into  the  city,  bringing  his  dinner  with 
him,  and  after  the  services  of  the  day  returns  again  to 

his  home. 

If  the  blessing  at  Nan  Yoh  was  greater  than 
usual  last  year,  the  opposition  was  greater  also.  Priests 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


39 


were  sent  out  from  the  temples  to  meet  the  pilgrims  on 
their  way  home  and  urge  them  to  destroy  the  books  that 
had  been  given  them.  The  priests  have  also  been  try- 
ing to  buy  the  house  in  which  we  hold  the  sessions  of  the 
school  so  as  to  crowd  us  out  of  the  place.  These  new 
attacks  of  Satan  are  a fresh  call  to  prayer,  and  in  this 
ministry  our  friends  at  home  can  have  a very  vital  share 
in  the  work  at  Nan  Y oh,  and  also  in  the  work  of  the  entire 
year. 

Since  this  letter  was  begun  we  have  received  a gift 
of  five  thousand  dollars  for  the  erection  of  a suitable 
building  for  the  Hunan  Autumn  Bible  School.  We  need 
a building  with  dormitory  and  lecture  room  accommoda- 
tion for  one  hundred  men.  Exchange  is  so  low  and  labor 
and  materials  so  high  that  three  thousand  dollars  addi- 
tional are  needed  to  make  it  possible  to  build.  We  are 
looking  to  God  with  joyous  confidence  for  this  amount.” 

THE  PRESENT  AND  PRESSING  OPPORTUN- 
ITY  AFFORDED  THE  BIBLE  INSTITUTE 
OF  LOS  ANGELES  IN  HUNAN 

( 1 ) Hunan  has  a population  of  22,000,000. 

(2)  From  having  been  one  of  the  most  conserva- 
tive provinces  of  the  empire,  it  has  recently  become  one 
of  the  most  progressive.  At  once  symbolic  and  indica- 
tive of  this  is  the  fact  that  the  great  wall  that  for  ages  has 
separated  it  from  the  surrounding  world,  is  now  in  pro- 
cess of  removal,  under  the  direction  of  the  government, 
and  the  massive  gates  that  have  for  ages  shut  out  that 
world  by  night,  were  recently  left  open,  never  to  be  closed 
again. 

(3)  A modern  railway  connects  it  with  the  adja- 
cent province  of  Kiangsi  with  its  26,000,000  inhabitants, 
giving  us  in  the  two  provinces-— bound  closely  by  busi- 
ness and  social  relationships — a population  half  the  size 
of  that  of  the  United  States! 


40 


BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 


(4)  Changsha,  the  capital  of  Hunan,  is  electric 
lighted  and  a telephone  system  has  been  installed  with 
the  lines  under  ground,  after  the  most  approved  fashion. 

(5)  A public  water  plant  is  projected. 

(6)  Business  men  (foreigners)  are  looking  about 
for  suitable  sites  for  factories,  business  houses,  etc.  The 
prices  of  real  estate  are  rising  and  Chinese  who  can  do  so 
are  picking  up  desirable  sites  intending  to  hold  them  for 
higher  prices. 

(7)  A broad  boulevard  will  supplant  the  wall, 
after  its  demolition. 

(8)  The  population  of  Hunan  is  well  educated 
and  energetic. 

(9)  Its  capital  is  an  educational  center,  and  one  of 
four  cities  chosen  by  the  Rockefeller  Foundation  as  the 
seat  of  its  medical  work. 

(10)  Fifteen  denominations  are  at  work  in  the 
province,  and  are  carrying  on  schools  for  boys  and  girls, 
which  will  be  great  feeders  for  our  Bible  School  work. 

(11)  Many  points  are  now  ready  for  new  stations 
had  we  trained  men  to  man  them. 

(12)  Demands  are  coming  in  continually  for 
trained  evangelists. 

OUR  NEEDS  AND  PLANS  FOR  FUTURE 
DEVELOPMENT  OF  OUR  HUNAN  WORK 

( 1 ) We  must  increase  our  fleet  of  boats  to  twelve. 

(2)  Each  boat  will  theoretically  graduate  five  students 

annually  into  the  Bible  Institute. 

(3)  We  must  have  a building  where  we  can  gather 

these  sixty  students  for  an  additional  year  of 
Bible  study,  together  with  such  students  from 
other  sources  as  wish  to  take  a Bible  Institute 


course. 


AFLOAT  IN  HUNAN,  CHINA 


41 


Picture  the  value  of  these  students  of  the  Bible 
Institute,  a part  of  whose  practical  work  will  be 
house  to  house  visitation,  neighborhood  Bible 
classes,  city  missions,  and  personal  work.  Would 
it  not  become  a great  factor  in  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  this  large  city,  the  capital  of  a great  and 
influential  Province? 

These  boat  students  would  alone  enable  the  Bible 
Institute  to  turn  out  probably  fifty  to  sixty 
trained  Bible  workers  per  year,  to  labor  among 
their  people  as  pastors,  evangelists,  and  Bible 
teachers. 

(4)  We  have  a pm^eetisee  site  for  a building.  We 

need  money  to  equip  the  additional  boats,  the 
boats  themselves  being  hired. 

(5)  We  need  money  to  construct  the  building. 

COST  OF  A BOAT  AND  EQUIPMENT 
FOR  ONE  YEAR. 

Two  teachers,  ten  colporteurs,  and  hire  of 


boat $ 1 ,800.00 

Literature  1,700.00 


Total $3,500.00 

Cost  of  a single  colporteur $60.00 


The  Bible  Institute  of  Los  Angeles  believes  that  this 
is  one  of  the  best  investments  ever  offered  for  definite, 
soul-saving  work,  and  we  commend  it  to  the  Lord’s  peo- 
ple. We  will  be  glad  to  receive  contributions  for  any 
amount,  in  behalf  of  any  portion  of  it. 

Address  communications  to 

T.  C.  Horton,  Superintendent  Bible  Institute  of  Los 
Angeles,  Los  Angeles,  California. 


A Sturdy  Pilgrim  Coming  Down  the  Mountain 


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‘THE 

KING’S 

BUSINESS” 


Dr.  R.  a.  ToRREY,  Editor 

Dean  of  the  Bible  Institute 
of  Los  Angeles 


HELPFUL  AND  INTERESTING 


Readers  have  said: 

“It  inspires  to  nobler  and  better  work  for  our  King.” 

“I  can  truly  say  my  life  has  been  enriched  by  it.” 

“It  is  straight  and  solid  for  Bible  truths.” 

“It  steadies  our  faith.  It  inspires  to  nobler  and  better 
work.” 

“I  appreciate  its  stand  for  the  whole  Gospel.” 

“The  Sunday  School  Lesson  Expositions  alone  are 
worth  the  price.” 

Price  $1.00  a year.  Foreign  $1.24 
Printed  a full  month  in  advance 
100  pages  monthly.  Ask  for  sample. 

Address 

BIBLE  INSTITUTE  OF  LOS  ANGELES 

536  South  Hope  Street,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  U.  S.  A. 


Bible  Institute  of  Los  Angeles 

(EVANGELICAL  AND  EVANGELISTIC) 

Trains  Men  and  Women,  without  Charge,  for 
all  Kinds  of  Christian  Work 


Advantages 

Located  in  the  center  of  a great  and  growing  cosmopolitan 

city. 

Efficient  organization  yielding  practical  results  in  every 

department. 

Thoroughly  qualified  teachers,  with  years  of  experience  in 
the  teaching  and  ministry  of  the  Word. 


Send  us  the  names  of  young  men  and  women  to  whom  we  may 
send  literature. 


Dr.  R.  a.  TORREY,  Dean 

Dr.  Williams  Evans,  Associate  Dean 


FOR  Fu^L ^PARTICULARS  HORTON,  Superintendent 


